


How Things Should Be

by Lex Vale (deductively)



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Abusive Parents, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Couch Cuddles, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, First Love, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, I love and will go down with Hyuroi so please fight me, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide attempt, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-18 20:30:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14221215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deductively/pseuds/Lex%20Vale
Summary: OOF y'all I don't know if i'm going home this weekend which means I might not be able to talk to my girlfriend time to freak outNo but here have some fluff to give y'all cavities don't tell your dentist you read thisUpdate bc I wrote this note yesterday: I'm going home today woot woot time to talk to Sophie until we pass out <3





	How Things Should Be

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moistang](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moistang/gifts).



"Damn it."

The words were sharp and shaky, almost getting caught on Roy's tongue when he slammed the door shut behind him.  Burying his head in his hand, he squeezed his eyes shut as if that would erase the complete meltdown he'd just had in the hallway.  His neighbors had almost called the paramedics before he managed to regulate himself and stumble back to the safety of his apartment.  If he wasn't so experienced at swallowing his own acidic vomit, he would've thrown up all over the floor before him.  Hell, maybe he should - maybe the fluids would burn a hole in the hardwood so he could sink into the depths of hell and forget that this ever happened.  Any of it.

He should've known meeting with his shitty father wasn't going to go well, especially with him, a gay man, rooming with a questioning-but-probably-bi man and leaving the doors open for all sorts of carnal shenanigans that Sheridan Mustang wouldn't approve of whether swine learned to sprout wings and fly or not.  But he didn't think it would be  _that_  bad.  Not so bad that eyes would be drawn like magnets to the display Roy's father had put on over how his entire life was going.  He was surprised that Sheridan didn't drag him by the hair into the bathroom and -

Roy covered his mouth with his hands, eyes flying open at the sudden onslaught of memories that shot up his throat.   _Don't think about that.  Please don't start thinking about that._

Swallowing hard, he managed to drag himself over to the couch and wrap himself in a blanket.  Maes' blanket.  Sometimes, today in particular, he felt disgusting touching such a wonderful person's item.  He'd taint it with his fingerprints, and Maes would walk in and rub his shoulders and try to tell him that no, everything was okay, he didn’t have to worry about it.  But he would.  Day in and day out, he’d think about how completely repulsing his existence was compared to his roommates.  At least Maes was smart and funny and he’d learned to deal with his depression in a way that wasn’t keeping it in the pit of his stomach like a star waiting to become a black hole or, worse yet, a black hole already devouring him from the inside out.  What was Roy?  The complete opposite.  Maybe smart and “charismatic”, as some called him, but the black hole in his stomach was rapidly expanding, and had almost destroyed him before.

_“Please don’t let him die . . .  
I need Roy to live, please, I . . .”_

But why did he need Roy?  He would’ve been better off if he’d stayed with Gracia and left him in the dirt to be trampled.  Why had he been so desperate to see Roy make it out of the hospital alive?

_“Please . . .”_

Roy shrunk into a sheltered ball of blue fluffy fabric covered in various pies.  His eyes dry-heaved and burned.  Nothing was making sense anymore.

Nothing ever really made sense in the first place.

“Roy?”  The smell of pomegranate exploded into the room when Maes’ soft voice called his name.  Roy hugged himself tighter.  “Hey, I heard the door shut, but I was in the shower.  What happened?”

At least he didn’t ask if it went well even though he could see the shuddering mass of fluff and ugly not-tears.  “He’s an asshole,” Roy sniveled, tension draining when Maes’ arm slid around his shoulders.  He poked his head out of a hole in the blanket.  “I can’t believe my mother killed herself because of this son of a bitch.  He threatened to ‘test if I’d had sex with my roommate’.  Why the hell is that any of your business?”  His legs instinctively crossed. “God, I didn’t think it would go well, but I didn’t think he would make a scene in the middle of the damn café.  I should’ve had you with me, I’m sorry, I was stubborn as hell.”

Maes brushed tangled hair out of Roy’s eyes with gentle hands, handling him as if he were a precious glass sculpture, something more beautiful than Roy would ever see in himself.  “I’m sorry,” he whispered after a long, thoughtful silence.  What else was there to say?  “If that bastard wasn’t such a creep, I’d tell him to come here so I could beat the shit out of him.  But you came here so you’d feel safe, so I’m going to keep my fists for something that won’t get me arrested.  This time, anyway.”  Maes’ eyes lost their luster, brightening with a light all their own with a knifelike sharpness.  “He didn’t hurt you, did he?  Did he touch you?”

With a mind of its own, Roy’s hand gripped his wrist.  He winced.  He hadn’t been sure at first, but yes, his father’s death grip had left a bruise.  “Nothing too bad.”  His words came out before he could even think about what they were.  “Nothing like before.  Just . . .”  _GET OUT.  GET OUT OF MY FUCKING FACE, YOU FAGGOT!  GET OUT!_ Roy tried to swallow past a lump in his throat that must’ve been his heart; he felt like his racing pulse was choking him.  “. . . words.”

Maes’ gaze didn’t soften.  “Are you sure?”

“Please, Maes, don’t do anything.  I don’t need you getting arrested, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

That got him.  He dropped the matter as quickly as Roy brought it up—which, to Maes’ dismay, Roy apologized for without reason—and pulled him closer until his thigh slid onto his lap.  “You really shouldn’t be worrying about me, Mustang.”  Maes muttered, pulling Roy fully into his arms and burying his face in the crook of his neck.

“Oops.”  Roy smiled up at his roommate, who leaned down to press his lips to his potential partner’s.  This was how it’d been for months now, ever since Roy turned eighteen and things went to shit between him and his father.  At first, it’d embarrassed him, especially because Maes had managed to find such a nice place and he was letting trash sleep in it.  But the circumstances had a strange effect of bringing them closer, closer than they probably should’ve been.  And neither of them minded this friends-with-benefits-but-maybe-more-than-friends status they had going.  Not that either of them had their feelings sorted out at all, but the pieces would fall into place eventually.

Roy could’ve kissed Maes forever.  The taste of licorice was comforting, and the scent of pomegranate and roommate/more than friend could’ve intoxicated him.  Soft lips, quiet laughter, a strong grip . . . this was the one place Roy felt safe.  In this man’s arms, close enough to smell him.

This, he knew, was how things should be.  And how they always should’ve been.

**Author's Note:**

> OOF y'all I don't know if i'm going home this weekend which means I might not be able to talk to my girlfriend time to freak out  
> No but here have some fluff to give y'all cavities don't tell your dentist you read this
> 
> Update bc I wrote this note yesterday: I'm going home today woot woot time to talk to Sophie until we pass out <3


End file.
